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Broken coal and rock (BCR) are an important component medium of the caving zone in the goaf (or gob), as well as the main filling material of fault fracture zone and collapse column. The compaction seepage characteristics of BCR directly affect the safe and efficient mining of coal mines. Thus, numerous laboratory studies have focused on the compaction seepage characteristics of BCR. This paper first outlines the engineering problems involved in the BCR during coal mining including the air leakage, the spontaneous combustion, the gas drainage, and the underground reservoirs in the goaf. Water inrush related to tectonics such as faults and collapse columns and surface subsidence related to coal gangue filling and mining also involve the compaction seepage characteristics of BCR. Based on the field problems of BCR, many attempts have been made to mimic field environments in laboratory tests. The experimental equipment (cavity size and shape, acoustic emission, CT, etc.) and experimental design for the BCR were firstly reviewed. The main objects of laboratory analysis can be divided into compression tests and seepage test. During the compaction test, the main research focuses on the bearing deformation characteristics (stress-strain curve), pore evolution characteristics, and re-crushing characteristics of BCR. The seepage test mainly uses gas or water as the main medium to study the evolution characteristics of permeability under different compaction stress conditions. In the laboratory tests, factors such as the type of coal and rock mass, particle size, particle shape, water pressure, temperature, and stress path are usually considered. The lateral compression test of BCR can be divided into three stages, including the self-adjustment stage, the broken stage, and the elastic stage or stable stage. At each stage, stress, deformation, porosity, energy, particle size and breakage rate all have their own characteristics. Seepage test regarding the water permeability experiment of BCR is actually belong to variable mass seepage. While the experimental test still focuses on the influence of stress on the pore structure of BCR in terms of gas permeability. Finally, future laboratory tests focus on the BCR related coal mining including scaling up, long term loading and water immersion, mining stress path matching were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most essential clean energy sources, the extraction and utilization methods of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) have been widely investigated and analyzed. A good understanding of the CBM seepage behavior in complex reservoir fracture–matrix structure is fundamental to the exploitation. In this study, we propose a new approach to investigate the interactions between macroscopic behavior and reservoir microstructure by the following parameters: (1) matrix fractal dimension; (2) fracture fractal dimension; (3) maximum fracture length; (4) maximum pore diameter. The results indicate that the fractal seepage model proposed in this study is more effective than the classical cubic seepage model for investigating thermal conduction, seepage and fracture–matrix interactions in coal seam. When the fractal dimension increases by 0.4, the permeability increases by about 10%. In addition, reservoir permeability is inversely proportional to coal seam temperature and directly proportional to fracture–matrix fractal dimension, maximum fracture length and maximum pore diameter. Furthermore, we also investigate the evolution of reservoir permeability with the extraction process, coal seam temperature and gas pressure under various microstructural parameters. It can be concluded that different structural parameters will draw various effects on coal seam gas seepage, which cannot be obtained by the cubic permeability model. Highlights: Relationship of fracture-matrix structure and macroscopic behavior is proposed. A new cross-scale coupled hydrological-thermal–mechanical model is developed. The impacts of the macroscopic behavior on the microstructure is analyzed. Permeability of unconventional reservoir is enhanced by 10.05% to 27.40%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the sand-inrushing accident of the Selian No. 1 coal mine in the ordos of inner Mongolia as the research background, four main factors of sand-inrushing, including sand source, channel, sand-breaking power, and flowing space, were analysed. The disaster formation process (SCPS) illustrated that sand--inrushing disasters in shallowly buried coal seams with soft surrounding rock have the characteristics of being significantly influenced by mining, the development of vertical overburden channels, and sufficient space for water-sand mixed particles to flow. universal Distinct Element Code (UDEC) software has been used to reveal that the vertical cracks in the overburden between the coal wall and support undergo a process of development and expansion along with the cumulative stress of mining. This showed that the vertical fissure through the overburden is the main pathway for the disaster. Combined with the site conditions, disaster occurrence mechanism, and numerical simulation results, a comprehensive prevention and control technology based on the working face and roadway grouting to block the channel was proposed. it contains reasonable mining height and optimisation of advancing speed, so that safe and efficient mining of coal seams in shallow-buried soft surrounding rocks could be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thin coal seam mined as a protective coal seam above a gas outburst coal seam plays a central role in decreasing the degree of stress placed on a protected seam, thus increasing gas permeability levels and desorption capacities to dramatically eliminate gas outburst risk for the protected seam. However, when multiple layers of coal seams are present, stress-relieved gas from adjacent coal seams can cause a gas explosion. Thus, the post-drainage of gas from fractured and de-stressed strata should be applied. Comprehensive studies of gas permeability evolution mechanisms and gas seepage rules of protected seams close to protective seams that occur during protective seam mining must be carried out. Based on the case of the LongWall (LW) 23209 working face in the Hancheng coal mine, Shaanxi Province, this paper presents a seepage model developed through the FLAC3D software program (version 5.0, Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis, MI, USA) from which gas flow characteristics can be reflected by changes in rock mass permeability. A method involving theoretical analysis and numerical simulation was used to analyze stress relief and gas permeability evolution mechanisms present during broken rock mass compaction in a goaf. This process occurs over a reasonable amount of extraction time and in appropriate locations for comprehensive gas extraction technologies. In using this comprehensive gas drainage technological tool, the safe and efficient co-extraction of thin coal seams and gas resources can be realized, thus creating a favorable environment for the safe mining of coal and gas outburst seams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abundant steeply-dipping thick coal seams (SDTCS) have been found in Xinjiang, China, and they are mined largely by the horizontal section top-coal caving (HSTCC) method. The hanging wall of the HSTCC face is nearly vertical and does not fracture easily after the underlying coal is extracted. As a result, stress tends to concentrate in the hanging wall of the lower-section working face (LSWF) and then induce dynamic disasters. In this study, a mechanical model of a HSTCC face's hanging wall in steeply-dipping seams was constructed to study the characteristics of hanging wall deformation. The mechanism of hanging wall pressure relief by deep-hole blasting (DHB) was analyzed and the effectiveness of DHB was investigated by simulation using the LS-DYNA software. Based on these studies, parameters relevant to pressure relief by DHB were determined and then DHB was applied to the 4301 working face in the Jiangou coal mine. The results show that the average pressure of measured at the 4301 working face decreased about 34% from those at the 4501 face where the hanging wall was not blasted. Accidents related to dynamic rock pressure, such as support crushing and large-scale rib fall, did not occur at the 4301 working face throughout the mining process. Additionally, in order to constrain the surface "V"-shaped collapsed grooves induced by repeated mining of HSTCC faces and prevent the subsequent failure of the surrounding rock on the sides of the collapsed grooves, loess was used to fill in the grooves to provide constraint and dynamic control on the surrounding rock. The two complementary technologies proposed in this study provide a guide on how to control hanging wall of SDTCS in similar conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]